Minister for Climate Change
Issues Tim Groser and Associate Minister Simon Bridges have
been leading the New Zealand delegation at the annual
Climate Change Ministerial meeting in Doha,
Qatar.

“This Conference has been challenging and
went a day over time, but we are now well placed to confront
the real issue: the negotiation of a long-term comprehensive
Climate Change Agreement,” says Mr Groser in Qatar.

“While the formal agreements are extremely
technical, the bigger picture both internationally and
specifically for New Zealand is clear. Internationally, the
key requirement has been to refocus political and
negotiating attention beyond the Kyoto Protocol to a more
comprehensive agreement that is capable of dealing with the
real environmental problem – the vast bulk of emissions
that would never have been covered by Kyoto.

“That figure is 86% and will reach 90% of total
global emissions in a few years. It is a matter of simple
arithmetic that the only agreement that makes environmental
sense long term is an agreement that deals with the bulk of
emissions, not an increasingly small part of global
emissions,” Mr Groser says.

The Ministers added
that they were pleased agreement had been reached on
amendments to the Kyoto Protocol that will allow European
countries and Australia to continue to use its provisions
for the next 8 years, starting from 2013. The Ministers
confirmed that New Zealand was on track to fulfilling its
own Kyoto commitment for the period 2008-2012 but that the
next commitment would be made outside
Kyoto.

“This is a long-term problem and we have a
long-term strategic approach to deal with it.
Internationally, all the focus should now be beyond Kyoto,
which up to now has dominated negotiating and political
attention, in spite of its decreasing coverage of global
emissions. Domestically, we have a world-class emissions
trading scheme which we have maintained at current settings
in the recent review. At current, deeply depressed
international carbon prices its economic impact is low but
the Government has no intention of forcing NZ businesses and
households to pay higher than world prices in the current
difficult international economic climate,” Mr Groser
says.

The Ministers noted that it would take some
time for international carbon markets to absorb the
implications of what had been agreed at Doha and they
expected New Zealand carbon markets would be no exception.
What was clear, however, was that New Zealand would continue
to have access to existing Kyoto carbon markets at least
until 2015. What happened after that would be deeply
influenced by progress made in negotiating the more
comprehensive international Climate Change Agreement as well
as progress made in on-going discussions to build regional
linkages amongst carbon markets.

“Meeting the
real challenge of global climate change has been aptly
described as the most complex international negotiating
problem the global community has yet tackled. We have every
expectation that further progress will be made, but it will
be slow, incremental and controversial. New Zealanders
should be deeply sceptical of quick fixes and piece-meal
solutions. But we are confident that New Zealand has the
right strategic long-term
approach.”

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